Our 1970’s Before House Tour

Come on in, grab yourself some coffee, and enjoy the before house tour of our 1970’s ranch. Now if you were really at my house I would bust out some snacks… if it was a good day I may even bake something for you. And you could stay as long as you like. If you stay long enough you may end up with a paint brush in your hand. Cause this baby needs a lot of it. It’s a common theme throughout the house tour.

Y’all (can I still use y’all now that we live in Oregon and not southern Illinois anymore?) I’m so excited to share with you our before house tour of our 70’s ranch. I call it a fixer upper, my husband says it’s not a fixer upper, it just needs paint. However you see it, we are excited to be homeowners again. This house had everything we need and some space to grow into. It’s a tad bit bigger than the 1200 sq foot house we were renting… it’s almost double the size, whoa. Today, I’m going to share with you the before pictures of our new home and then will show you periodically the updated spaces. We are currently working on renovating our kitchen as we speak. So stay tuned for some great updates. It’s already looking wayyyyy better.

I can’t promise these pictures are pretty. I had to take them quickly while the sun was setting, with dark colored walls, and some rooms have little natural light. That just makes after pictures better right?

The Family Room and Kitchen

We loved the openness of the space, but the walls were in pretty bad shape. Between the dark olive green that were retouched in about 100 places with pea green paint, cat scratches in the drywall, and the dated wood trim it looked pretty bad. Thankfully just needs some paint an new curtains (one day I hope to replace the laminate with real wood).

The kitchen was like a 70’s time capsule. Everything was original minus the dishwasher.

The plan:

Add can and pendent lights

Rip out counters

Replace counters with concrete counters

Paint

Paint cabinets

New hardware

Backsplash

Replace giant cabinet with range and hood (not my original plan, but it will have to do)

Remove some of the upper cabinets and replace with open shelving

Replace glass inserts with wood (?)

New window treatments

New sink and faucet

Dining Room

The dining room is right off the entryway and connected to the kitchen. It’s a great size, but very dated.

The plan:

Paint walls and trim

New light fixture

Parkay floors will stay until maybe one day we can do hardwoods across all the main living area.

Formal Living Room

This is one of the things that sold us on this house. We can imagine enjoying the company of family and friends int his room. The amazing formal living room has great bones and just needs a little help.

The plan:

Remove bamboo grass cloth

Paint walls and trim

Paint fireplace tile and mantel

New light fixture

New furniture

Hang curtains

Laundry

The plan:

Paint walls

Paint cabinets

New counter

New sink and faucet

Add washer and dryer- So we already did this and made a huge newbie mistake. We bought washers and dryers that would fit but forgot to take into account that the venting would have to run behind both machines because we flipped the position. So the washer and dryer now stick out past the door so you can’t open it… Oops. Oh well. We probably would never use the door anyway and it wasn’t worth the 10% restocking fee to me.

Guest Bath

This wont be changed anytime soon. But eventually we I plan to take out vanity, floors, and toilet and replace with new. So basically a gut job.

Master Bedroom and Bath

The plan: It will probably stay this for a long while but eventually…

Remove wallpaper

Paint room and trim

Renovate bathroom- hello carpet in bathroom

Bedroom 2

The plan:

Replace curtains

Paint stripped wall pink

Paint trim and closet doors

New light fixture

Bedroom 3

The plan:

Paint walls

Paint trim and closet doors

New window treatments

New light fixtures

Outdoor Space

I’m so very thankful to have a fenced in backyard for the first time ever! Our lot is about a quarter acre and at least has grapes that we know of.

The plan:

Add garden beds and maybe fruit trees

Add chicken coop

Remove bamboo

Remove some of the larger rocks

Add fencing to make a dog area.

There you have it! The before of our 1970’s ranch. What do ya’ll think? We are so excited to make our home feel like our home. It may take awhile, but it will slowly but surely come together. Because hello we have two kids under the age of 3.

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HEY THERE! WE'RE AMY & LIBBY!

Wives, work-at-home moms, and friends. We love natural living, gardening, eating real food, raising our children well, and living on a budget. Amy started this blog, and Libby chimes in from time to time. We're happy to have you!